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The night we sneaked into the Atlantis Hotel

First thing you feel once you step in Dubai, apart from the heat, it’s the smell of money. Everything is built with luxury in mind in order to show power and whelty. As result, the city looks like a huge amusement park where from a simple monument to buildings and hotels are filled with superlatives. The Atlantis Hotel is another example of that.

We were a bit sceptical about how a Hotel could be THAT impressive. But gladly we amazed but the richness (of course) of details and several other aspects that trap your attention.

Starting with the Atlantis Hotel location in the Palm Jumeirah. A complex with several luxury condos and hotels built in a shape of a palm tree. Really unusual, really impressive. It has more then 1500 suites costing from $1000 to +$20.000. We ain’t sleeping here anytime soon.

How to get into the Atlantis Hotel

Before we dive into the Atlantis Hotel details, bear in mind that it is not totally open to the general public. Security guards will try to check if you are a guest or got a reservation in one of the restaurants. It requires a lot of poker face and creativity but worst it can happen it’s your entrance being denied.

And there we were, in front of a huge facade with a security guard of distance to the main entrance. A bit of small talk, we start to chat about football, Pelés here, Ronaldos there and then we are in the main hall of the Atlantis Hotel! By the way, this is a big benefit of being Brazilian when travelling, people adore football and usually it opens several doors.

The Atlantis Hotel’s Lobby

Back to the lobby, it is huge (yes, everything here is), a lot of marbles and jaw dropping details from the floor to the ceiling. In the hall centre, a 10m glass sculpture mesmerizes whoever looks at it, paintings on the walls creates a kind of underwater kingdom atmosphere. It’s called Atlantis Hotel for a reason. We spent some time admiring everything and trying to disguise our amusement, after all we are not intruders.

Crossing a gallery of fancy shops and good-looking restaurants, we saw a bright and blue wall. We try to get close by when sudden another security guard ask us if we are staying in the hotel. More brazilianswag, and he allowed us to check what is the big blue and the end. “If someone asks you, please leave the area”, he said.

The incredible Atlantis Hotel’s Aquarium

There is simply no way to be indifferent to what we saw. A gigantic aquarium with an overwhelming amount of animals. Sharks, fishes, jelly fishes, lobsters… You name it. All sizes and colour centimetres away.

The Atlantis Hotel aquarium hall is also astonishing and pictures can’t show enough.

The sad part is that we didn’t have enough time and had to leave. We spent just some hours in Dubai during a layover, and better leave before somebody finds us. Nevertheless, the Atlantis Hotel was the high pick of Dubai to us. A remarkable experience.